When James Harrison was 13 years old, he underwent a difficult surgery, during which he had to die from blood loss. But he did not die because of a timely transfusion. In total, during the operation, 13 liters of donated blood were transfused to him, which saved his life. As soon as he turned 18 and reached the required age to donate blood, he immediately went to the Red Cross blood donation center. It was there that it turned out that the blood of James Harrison is unique in its way, since its plasma contains special antibodies, thanks to which it is possible to prevent the Rh-conflict between a pregnant mother and her fetus.
Without these antibodies, Rh-conflict leads to a minimum of anemia and jaundice of the child, a maximum of stillbirth. When it was explained to James what exactly was found in his blood, he only asked one question. He asked how often blood can be donated. Since then, for 60 years, James Harrison has come to the medical center near his home every three weeks and donates exactly 400 milliliters of blood. It is easy to calculate that by now he has donated approximately 377 liters of blood. Antibodies isolated from his blood prevented the Rh-conflict of approximately two million pregnant women around the world, including Harrison's wife.
Two million women and as many, if not more, their children, including Harrison's daughter, are alive and well thanks to this friendly old man from Australia.
Anna Sokolova